From shop windows to street signs, the City of Roses makes its nickname known even in the flower’s off season.
Text by Anna Harmon
Images by Sera Lindsey
The rose sighting in the top left image is part of the “Bad Karma” mural by Broken Fingaz, visible from Belmont Street.
The Pacific Northwest is home to four native rose species, each of which have blooms with a single layer of soft petals that fall to reveal brambles of thorns and growing hips. But it is not these for which Portland got its nickname as The City of Roses. That title evolved from colonial interests, taking root in 1888 with a pioneer woman who hosted a backyard rose show. Soon after, a Portland Railway attorney founded a rose society to “beautify the city” before it housed an exhibition akin to a world fair. Its reputation having spread, Portland even became a haven for hybrid roses during World War I. Today, its rosy legacy is self-perpetuating, embodied in the city’s annual rose festival and International Rose Test Garden; the name of its renowned women’s soccer team, the Thorns; and even embossed cameos on storm drains. In 2003, Portland officially adopted the nickname “City of Roses.”
But it’s not necessary to know this history to see that the city has embraced its floral signature. For this photo essay, Portland photographer Sera Lindsey took to the city’s streets to look for roses in art, on signage, and among humble tableaus, where they bloom no matter the weather.
This rose mural on a building on Northeast Broadway Street is one of 21 rose paintings throughout Portland made by late contract painter Jere Harley.